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King Milinda and Nagasena are concerned with the issue of identity, specifically personal identity. King Milinda has misgivings about the Buddhist doctrine of No-Self (anatta), and he challenges Nagasena to explain it. Nagasena replies by using a series of metaphors or similes to explain. This passage is from T. W. Rhys Jones? translation of The Questions of King Milinda (Part I, Book 2, pps. 63-65)
1. [40] The king said: ‘He who is born, N?gasena, does he remain the same or become another?’
‘Neither the same nor another.’
‘Give me an illustration.’
‘Now what do you think, O king? You were once a baby, a tender thing, and small in size, lying flat on your back. Was that the same as you who are now grown up?’
‘No. That child was one, I am another.’
‘If you are not that child, it will follow that you have had neither mother nor father, no! nor teacher. You cannot have been taught either learning, or behaviour, or wisdom. What, great king! is the mother of the embryo in the first stage different from the mother of the embryo in the second stage, or the third, or the fourth? Is the mother of the baby a different person from the mother of the grown-up man? Is the person who goes to school one, and the same when he has finished his schooling another? Is it one who commits a crime, another who is punished by having his hands or feet cut off?’
‘Certainly not. But what would you, Sir, say to that? ‘
The Elder replied: ‘I should say that I am the same person, now I am grown up, as I was when I was a tender tiny baby, flat on my back. For all these states are included in one by means of this body.’
‘Give me an illustration.’
‘Suppose a man, O king, were to light a lamp, would it burn the night through?’
‘Yes, it might do so.’
‘Now, is it the same flame that burns in the first watch of the night, Sir, and in the second?’
‘No.’
‘Or the same that burns in the second watch and in the third?’
‘No.’
‘Then is there one lamp in the first watch, and another in the second, and another in the third?’
‘No. The light comes from the same lamp all the night through.’
‘Just so, O king, is the continuity of a person or thing maintained. One comes into being, another passes away; and the rebirth is, as it were, simultaneous. Thus neither as the same nor as another does a man go on to the last phase of his self-consciousness.’
‘Give me a further illustration.’
‘It is like milk, [41] which when once taken from the cow, turns, after a lapse of time, first to curds, and then from curds to butter, and then from butter to ghee. Now would it be right to say that the milk was the same thing as the curds, or the butter, or the ghee?’
‘Certainly not; but they are produced out of it.’
‘Just so, O king, is the continuity of a person or thing maintained. One comes into being, another passes away; and the rebirth is, as it were, simultaneous. Thus neither as the same nor as another does a man go on to the last phase of his self-consciousness.’
‘Well put, N?gasena!’
The question you should focus on is what the relation is between us now and us as newborns. Is it one of identity or something else? Use the theories of Olson and of the Yogacara school as presented by Dreyfus and Ganeri (you can focus on just one of these, if you like, but as you know, they are commenting on essentially the same phenomenon). Olson would explain how you could be the same as the newborn baby (think: fetus; I use the example of the newborn baby because of the Buddhist text we are using, but for the purposes of the discussion of Olson, you can mentally substitute ?newborn? with ?fetus?) in one way. Dreyfus and Ganeri are going to use the concept of alaya-vij?ana (basic/store consciousness) to explain the continuity that Nagesena talks about. Olson is going to embrace identity, Dreyfus and Ganeri reject it. Nevertheless, they are all attempting to explain the same phenomenon (at least from a common sense perspective). Then discuss briefly.
There are therefore 3 parts to the essay that should be answered: 1. Olson?s view of our identity, 2. The Yogacara school (as interpreted either by Dreyfus or Ganeri) view of alaya-vij?ana, 3. How these provide different answers to the question; compare/contrast.
The easy should be 2-3 pages long using 12 pt New Roman font or equivalent size, 1-inch margins, and 1.5 line spacing. It is due March 22 at midnight. Use WebCT to submit your assignment. Late assignments are penalized by 1 point being detracted from your final score per calendar day that it is late. If you are sick and cannot complete on time, let me know when you do know and remember to get a note.
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